Father and Son
by Nightstalker1
Summary: Bikky has been displaying unnerving behavior, and Ryo fears the worst. Drama and hilarity ensue as Ryo desperately searches for the truth. Completed
1. Chapter 1

Father and Son

by Nightstalker1

Disclaimer: I don't own FAKE, or its characters. If I did, the NYPD would never get anything accomplished.

Author's Notes: This story takes place shortly after the Rod Field case in Volume 3 (Diana's introduction), so Ryo and Dee are not a couple yet. Sorry guys, but this story is going to focus on a very different relationship in the FAKE universe.

"Good morning, Bikky."

"Mmrgrhflmgn," Bikky grumbled as he slumped into a chair at the kitchen table.

Ryo MacLean frowned as he set a glass of orange juice and a bowl of corn flakes on the table by his foster son. Bikky glanced at the proffered breakfast blankly for a moment before folding his arms and laying his head on them. Ryo bristled as the boy refused to acknowledge him.

The fair haired detective turned away stiffly as he put the cereal box back into the cupboard. "You know, Bikky, it's not going to kill you to be polite in the morning."

Bikky groaned. His response was muffled by his arms. "Gimme a break, Ryo. I was out late last night."

"So I see," Ryo raised an eyebrow. "And when exactly did you get home last night?"

"Dunno. Two-ish?" He yawned. "You were already asleep."

"On a school night?" Ryo almost dropped the milk carton in surprise. "What could you possibly have been doing until two in the morning when you know that you have to get up early?"

"So it's okay to be up that late on a weekend?"

"Yes…I mean no! Just tell me what you were doing."

Bikky half shrugged. "Just stuff. Ya know, doing things, seeing people…"

"Doing what things? Seeing which people?"

"Nothin' important, and no one you know," The boy grumbled as he proceeded to spoon his cereal through a hole between his crossed arms.

Ryo frowned at that answer. It seemed that they went through the same routine every morning. Bikky would shuffle into the kitchen, half asleep, and then proceed to pick at the food Ryo would set out without saying a word. As soon as he finished, he would grab his bag and leave for school without even saying good-bye. Anytime Ryo tried to engage the boy in conversation, he would be rewarded with a cryptic answer or an incomprehensible grumble. As a result, he had no idea what his foster son did every night; and that made him worry.

Ryo sat across from the boy, deciding to take a different approach. "Well whatever you are doing, I hope you at least took a safe route home. You know all too well how dangerous the back alleys are in this neighborhood."

"Course I did. I always use the money you give me to catch a taxi. You don't need to worry."

Ryo immediately frowned. He knew the boy was lying. Diana had spoken to him a week ago about seeing Bikky walking through the back alleys at night while she was investigating the Rod Field case. It was because he was in those alleys that he had almost been kidnapped. If it wasn't for Diana's quick thinking and killer right hook, who knows what would have happened to him. Ryo was not angry because he was out late and unsupervised. The fact that he was in those alleys was not even a factor. The boy had grown up in the hood, so he knew those alleys well enough. What bothered Ryo was that Bikky was deliberately lying to his face. He always tried to give the boy the benefit of the doubt, but Bikky was abusing his trust.

Ryo shoved his chair back abruptly, the scraping of the legs against the kitchen floor loud enough to catch Bikky's attention. The boy lifted his head so that one cerulean eye peeked out over his arms.

"Hey, what're you all uptight about this morning?" Bikky questioned as Ryo grabbed his coat and opened the front door.

"Nothing," Ryo replied stiffly without turning around. "I'll see you after school."

With that said, the door slammed shut behind him.

* * *

"I just can't stand it anymore! I try so hard to provide him with food, a nice home life, a sense of family, and a chance to live a decent life. And yet all I get in return are secrets and lies. I just don't know what to do about him!"

"Can't you just take him back?" Detective Dee Laytner smirked as he listened to his partner rant. "You know, like at the department stores where you can return appliances for a full refund if you're not satisfied?"

"Bikky is not like your toaster!" Ryo yelled as he threw the latest case file at Dee's head; which the raven haired man caught easily.

Dee set the file aside and checked that there were no other throwable items within his partner's reach before continuing. "I meant you should take him to child services, but I know you wouldn't do that. You care too much about that kid to let him go for any reason. If he's having problems, you're going to try and fix them. That's just the sort of person you are."

"You're right," Ryo sighed as he slumped into his desk chair and started to shuffle through his papers. "I'm his guardian, so I have to help him work through any problems he's having. I just wish that he would trust me a little. He shouldn't have to lie to me."

"Yeah. You'd think he'd have learned by now that you are the most God-damn trustable guy on the face of this planet. Guess it just hasn't sunk into his thick-skulled monkey brain yet. Still, it's not surprising."

"What's not surprising?" Ryo glanced up from his paperwork.

"The fact that he still doesn't trust you," Dee said as he leaned back in his chair and put his feet on the desk. "Bikky grew up in the ghetto. Every day he was surrounded by lies, violence, and bloodshed. His own father was killed during a botched drug deal. The orphanage I grew up in was in a similar neighborhood. I learned early on that the only way to survive in that world was to trust no one but yourself. Yeah, you've given Bikky a new home and a new life, but those survival instincts are still there. It'll take a long time before he feels completely safe."

Sighing, Ryo closed his eyes and ran a hand through his blonde hair. "So what you're saying is that he may never trust me."

A sympathetic look settled on Dee's face. "No. He'll learn to trust you sooner or later. It's kinda hard not to when you're so honest and genuine with everyone you meet, you softy. One day he'll realize that. Soon enough, you'll say or do something that'll really hit him emotionally, and then he'll open up. After that, I get the feeling you two will be inseparable."

"Like you and your dad Jess?"

A wistful smile passed over Dee's face at the comment, which Ryo could not help but find endearing on his normally brash partner. "Yeah. Although I doubt you'll have to fight off an entire mafia to win Bikky over; although that can't hurt."

"No thanks," Ryo chuckled. "Too messy. You know how much I hate scrubbing blood out of carpets."

Dee laughed softly before sobering up. Looking Ryo directly in the eye, he spoke. "Listen, if the brat's lying then he must be hiding something. This means that there is only one thing you can do."

"Wait for Hell to freeze over so he'll actually tell me?"

"No," Dee smirked triumphantly. "We're detectives, so we need to find clues. We need to search his room from top to bottom. Go through every drawer and behind every pair of mildew covered sweat socks. That's the only way you'll find anything."

Ryo raised an eyebrow questioningly. "That was disgusting. There is no way that he is going to allow mildew to grow in my clean apartment. And anyway, because we're detectives, we're required to have a warrant before we can search any premises."

"Ryo, you're a parent. You don't need a warrant to search your kid's room! It's an undisputed law of nature that parents can bypass all police protocol if the search requires snooping through their child's underwear. Just wait until you have a later shift and then sneak in there while Bikky's at school. We're both professionals, so he'll never suspect a thing."

"I don't know," Ryo bit his lip in uncertainty. "I feel guilty for invading his privacy, but I do want to know what is going on with him lately. And since he obviously doesn't trust me, as demonstrated by his lying this morning, then I suppose I'm justified to search his room." Ryo looked up resolutely. "All right Dee. The two of us will do this together."

"Excellent!" Dee beamed as he opened the case file and actually started to do work. "I've always wanted to find blackmail material for when the kid's old enough to sue."

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

* * *

Two days later, Ryo and Dee picked the lock to Bikky's room and prepared to enter into previously uncharted territory. Dee had armed himself with rubber gloves, evidence bags, and a camera. On the other hand, Ryo was armed with cans of disinfectant, tongs, and a gallon of carpet cleaner. Much to Ryo's pleasant surprise, the worst thing they encountered was a poster of some shirtless rap artist and last week's load of clean laundry on the floor.

"Well, it looks as though you have had an effect on him," Dee nodded to Ryo in approval. "I always pictured him as more of a slob."

Ryo looked doubtful. "I don't think it'll stay this clean when he gets comfortable here and then hits puberty."

"Oh yeah, I remember when Penguin found used condoms all over my floor when I was a teenager…"

"WHAT?"

"Just kidding," Dee snickered as he dodged a thrown can of disinfectant. "The old bat would have skinned me alive if I was sleeping around in her vicinity."

At that moment, Ryo firmly decided to ignore Dee for the rest of the day…unless he found some hard evidence. With firm resolution, the two detectives began to poke through the young boy's belongings. The closet revealed nothing worse than a dirty T-shirt wadded up behind some shelves (which Ryo promptly threw in a hamper with the tongs). The desk was crammed with candy wrappers, rusted bolts, and other odds and ends that must have been pulled out of a dumpster; but there was no sign of anything illegal. There was also no sign of the school supplies that should be in the desk either, and Ryo stored a mental note about it in the back of his mind.

Pulling back the desk, Ryo began to check the wall and floorboards around it, knocking carefully to find any secret compartments where drugs and stolen cash could be hidden. When his search revealed nothing, he moved on, crawling on the floor with his ear to the ground and listening for any hollow noises. His hands swept behind the rap poster, as though searching for the edge of a hidden doorway.

While Ryo was searching, Dee was leaning against the wall and shaking his head in silent amusement. The obsessed look in his partner's eyes made him look like an Egyptologist searching for a hidden vault in a pyramid. Apparently he was so focused on finding Bikky's dirty little secrets that he neglected to remember that New York apartments rarely contained trap doors and hidden rooms. Ah yes, the joys of parenting a preteen. With a smirk, Dee turned to the wastebasket. Based on personal experience, the raven haired detective knew that naïve kids believed the trash was the perfect place to hide things. When he was thirteen, he had thrown away his first cigarette butt and believed that no one would know about it. An hour later, one of his friends had knocked over the wastebasket and the butt landed right at Penguin's feet. Since Ryo had never caught Bikky with something he shouldn't have, the kid would still think that the wastebasket was a safe hiding spot. His hands plunged in and shuffled through the crumpled papers and gooey mess of something he did not want to know about. As his hands went deeper, Dee's fingers felt a very familiar item that should not have been there.

"Ryo," He called nervously, immediately catching his partner's attention. "You might want to see this."

As Ryo watched with nervous curiosity, Dee proceeded to pull three empty cigarette boxes from Bikky's trash can. Ryo stared in shock and slowly fell to his knees.

"He's smoking…" Ryo whispered in horror. "Nine years old and he's smoking…"

"Hey, these are the same brand I use," Dee muttered to himself as he examined the boxes in awe. "Kid's an idiot for using these at his age, but at least he's got good taste." Snapping back to the present, Dee threw Ryo a concerned glance. "It's not over yet, buddy. We still have to check the bed. Porn magazines are usually hidden under the mattress and hard drugs go under the bed."

Ryo glared at his partner. "Porn magazines and hard drugs? How do you know that?"

"Hey, that's where all kids hide those things. C'mon, you had to have hidden a nudey magazine or two under your mattress as a kid. The big question is, did they feature women or men," Dee cringed as Ryo sent him a look that would have frozen the Sahara. "Then again, you would never do something like that. Let's just look over there."

Ryo immediately lifted the mattress and let out a sigh of relief when he did not see any adult magazines.

"Don't worry, it'll be there soon enough."

"Shut up, Dee."

As Ryo continued to examine the mattress, Dee got down on the floor to check underneath. The edge of a wooden box was peeking out from under a stack of failed math quizzes that Bikky obviously hadn't shown to Ryo yet. Curiosity piqued, Dee pulled the box out from the shadows of the bed. Ryo glanced down at it curiously. It was a small square box, about six inches long and six inches high, with a large padlock keeping it shut. Upon careful examination, or Dee shaking the box, both men determined that its contents were fairly heavy and sounded like some sort of paper material.

"Money?" Ryo wondered out loud as Dee held the box up to his ear. "Could he be stealing money?"

"Don't know," Dee mumbled as he shook it again. Out of curiosity, he held it up to his nose and took an experimental sniff. His head suddenly pulled up so that his emerald eyes could meet with Ryo's obsidian ones. "Ryo, take a whiff of this."

Ryo took the box from his partner's hands and slowly brought it up to his nose. He carefully inhaled a tiny bit of the scent that had alarmed Dee. His brain immediately processed the identity of the strange odor.

"Dee, is this what I think it is?"

"Yeah, it is."

"Dear God, it smells like weed!"


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Notes: Here's chapter 2 for everyone! Thank you to those who have reviewed. Apparently FFnet screwed up my format, so my breaks between scenes never showed up. I've gone back and fixed that. It was pointed out that Bikky should probably be ten in this, but nine can still work. He was nine when the manga began (In Volume 1 we know that he is three years younger than Carol/Cal, and in Volume 2 we learn that Carol/Cal is twelve; you can do the math). So for those who like to nitpick, we'll just say that he will turn ten really soon. Anyway, I hope all of you enjoy this new chapter. As always, reviews are welcome.

Ryo was in the middle of making dinner when the phone rang. He could hear Bikky spring from the couch, cartoons completely forgotten, and dive for it. Ryo had to chuckle at the boy's behavior. Bikky loved answering the phone, mostly because he never had one growing up in the slums with his father. For a brief moment, Ryo forgot about the box and the lies and simply enjoyed Bikky's youthful outburst. Ryo set the stove to a simmering heat and waited to hear what always happened next. If the call was for Ryo, Bikky would yell at the top of his lungs for him. If the call was from Carol, the only person who ever called Bikky, then the boy would start talking animatedly. However, Ryo could only hear silence. Sensing something was amiss, Ryo's detective instincts took over.

Taking great care not to be seen, Ryo pressed himself against the kitchen wall and leaned his head toward the doorway in order to hear what was going on in the hall. He could hear Bikky talking to whoever was on the phone in a whispered frenzy.

"Dude, I told you not to call me here. What if my guardian picked up? I'd be busted!" Bikky hissed.

Frowning, Ryo leaned closer to the doorway. There was a long pause as the caller responded before Bikky spoke again.

"Sorry, I…Yeah…Yeah…You know what I mean…No, I can't talk to anyone else about this. They wouldn't understand…Hey, listen to Boss, man, I've got it covered…OK, I'll be there tomorrow night at your place; same time as usual. We still going to Mac's tonight?...OK…OK I've got it. I'll talk to you later, Tank."

Ryo paled. Tank and Mac? And Bikky was calling himself "Boss"? What the hell was going on here? Was Bikky the head of some street gang? Was he joining some pre-teen mafia that was selling drugs and robbing old ladies before escaping to the safety of the school playground? Images of Bikky standing in a back alley with a cigarette in one hand, a whored up prostitute in the other, and piles of dead pizza delivery boys with bullet wounds to the head around him, flooded the detective's mind.

As the phone clicked off, Ryo stepped into the hall. It took all of his police skills to appear nonchalant when he really wanted to hold the kid upside down by his ankles and shake a confession out. Damn, he spent too much time around Dee.

"Who was on the phone?" Ryo silently praised himself for keeping any suspicion out of his voice.

Bikky shrugged indifferently. "No one, just a wrong number."

Ryo couldn't keep the frown from appearing on his face. "You were on for a long time for a wrong number."

"They wouldn't shut up. This guy kept trying to convince me that this was the number of Betty's House Keepers," Bikky chuckled as he spoke, but Ryo's trained eyes caught the nervous edge to his voice and the slight shift of his feet. "I couldn't get a word in edgewise, and you always get pissy if I just hang up on people."

Ryo's frown deepened at the obvious lie. Schooling his features again, the detective decided to try a different approach. "Listen Bikky, I have some free time later and I was wondering if you wanted to go to a movie. It seems like the two of us never do anything together. We live together, yet I feel like I don't really know you well at all."

The boy's face immediately lit up before promptly falling. "Sorry, but I promised some people that I'd get together with them tonight. I can't back out now. Maybe another time?"

"Who are you meeting?" Ryo's eyes narrowed in obvious suspicion, making the boy wince. "Anyone I know?"

Bikky shifted from one foot to the other nervously. "Not really. They're just some people from school."

"What will you be doing?"

The boy's head immediately jerked up. The blatant fear in his eyes made him look like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming truck. Ryo held his breath. Was the boy actually going to tell him the truth?

"N-nothing," Bikky stammered, forcing down his panicked expression.

"Well you have to be doing something," Ryo commented, but immediately regretted his words as Bikky narrowed his eyes.

"We won't be doing anything you need to know about, so stop playing twenty questions. I can look after myself," the boy growled.

Something inside Ryo snapped at that moment and he could not stop himself from shouting. "Bikky, you're nine years old. You are not old enough to look after yourself, which is why I'm here. As long as you're under my roof, you will follow my rules; and my rules right now are that you're not going anywhere tonight until you stop lying to my face and give me a damn good answer!"

"You're not my father, so stop trying to act like it!" Bikky yelled before running to his room and slamming the door.

Ryo stared at the closed door for a minute before numbly walking to the living room and slumping bonelessly onto the couch. With a shaky sigh, he put his head in his hands and stayed that way for the next two hours. By the time he stumbled back to the kitchen, dinner was a lost cause.

* * *

Dee would have laughed if the situation had not been so serious. Ryo, his perfect partner who worked continuously and efficiently from the beginning to the end of his shift, was a complete wreck. He was draped over his desk with his face pillowed by his arms. His shirt was wrinkled and untucked, his tie undone. Dark rings were under his eyes, a sure sign that he hadn't slept all night. Work that was normally organized and stacked was scattered across his usually immaculate desk, innocent victims of sudden arm waving and fist pounding. Still, Dee could not help but mentally smirk at the amusing change. 

"…And then he snuck out the window and didn't come back till three in the morning. I was going to talk to him at breakfast, but he left for school before I could say anything. I have no idea what to do anymore. I'm at my wits end, Dee," Ryo moaned pitifully, the sound muffled by his arms.

The raven haired detective had to smile sympathetically at his partner. "You're too nice to the kid, Ryo. You say you're going to do something, but you always hesitate because you hope he'll come around on his own. Bikky knows this, and knows that he can keep his little secrets because you'll never actually do anything. Maybe someone else should talk to him. I'd be more than happy to smack some sense into the brat."

"I'd like to avoid bloodshed at all costs, thank you," Ryo rolled his eyes before turning serious again, a look of grim determination on his face. "But you're right. He'll keep hiding these things from me if I don't do something soon. And I will. If I can't talk to him, then I'll have to act. I'm going to sit him down and force him to talk the minute he gets home tonight, no matter how late it is."

"Maybe I should stay with you tonight. You could use the support," Dee raised an eyebrow suggestively. "And I can think of ways to keep both of us up all night."

Ryo shoved his partner's leering face away. "I know all too well what those 'ways' are, so forget it. This is something that Bikky and I need to do alone. One way or another, tonight he will tell me what's going on."

Author's Notes: I know it's short, but this was the perfect place to end. The final chapter is coming soon!


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Notes: Here's the last chapter everyone! Thank you again to all of the people who have given me encouraging reviews.

The click of the key in the lock echoed down the silent hallway, making Bikky wince. Pushing the door open, he mentally whispered his nightly thanks that the hinges never squeaked. As usual, he pulled off his shoes before stepping inside and silently shutting the door behind him. Weeks of practice had taught the boy that socked feet caused less noise than shoes and made creaky floorboards easier to avoid. It also helped to know every inch of the apartment's layout as Bikky carefully sidestepped the coat rack. He held his breath as he paused at Ryo's bedroom door, ears straining to pick up any signs that his guardian was awake. When he only heard the sounds of deep and even breathing, he continued to tiptoe his way past the door.

As he continued the perilous trek to his bedroom, Bikky automatically swerved past a spot on the floor that he knew would squeak…and slammed his hip into an end table.

"Shit!" He hissed before quickly covering his mouth with his hands.

As soon as his hip had connected, the sudden impact caused a small pile of change to fall from the table to the floor. Bikky froze in horror as each coin hit the wooden floorboards with an echoing "ping". Frightened eyes sought out Ryo's door in the darkness, waiting for the man to wake up. Seconds passed and no sound could be heard from beyond the door. Bikky allowed himself to quietly release the breath he had been holding. As he willed his heartbeat to slow down, the boy couldn't help but wonder why he had hit the table. He had snuck through the living room enough times to memorize where every piece of furniture was located in the dark, so it must have been moved since last night. The thought of his pathway being altered unnerved Bikky greatly

Once he was sure that Ryo had not woken up, Bikky turned around and continued to follow his memorized path through the living room. As he stepped down, a sudden popping noise shattered the silence. Bikky jumped at the sudden noise. His other foot came down, only to be met with a series of the same pops. It was then that he realized that a sheet of bubble wrap was beneath his feet. Bikky swallowed back a curse as he realized that this would definitely wake Ryo up. His only chance of not getting caught now was to sprint to his room.

As he tore off down the hall, his foot stepped on a small plastic object in the middle of the floor, causing him to slip backwards onto a conveniently placed cushion. The radio suddenly lit up and heavy metal music was blasted through the apartment. Before Bikky could recover, the living room light was switched on. The boy cringed and slowly turned around to see Ryo standing by his bedroom door, arms crossed and a triumphant smirk across his face.

"Good evening, Bikky."

"Oh God…" Bikky whimpered. "Ryo I can explain everything."

"Oh you will," Ryo's voice was deadly serious beneath the smirk as he gestured to the couch. "Please, sit."

Knowing that he couldn't weasel his way out of the situation, Bikky meekly complied and sat obediently. Ryo walked toward him slowly, eyes locked on the boy's as though he was trying to strip away all defenses. Bikky squirmed beneath the scrutinizing gaze of the midnight eyes. The older man stopped a few feet away and stood there, looking very imposing in his pea green pajamas. Minutes passed silently as Ryo simply stared at his foster son and Bikky stared at the floor.

"It's a nice night out there," Ryo's voice suddenly shattered the stillness of the air, making Bikky visibly wince. "At least it must be nice if you insist on staying out there until…" He glanced over at the wall clock. "two thirty-six in the morning."

Bikky remained silent, knowing that he hadn't actually been asked a question.

Grabbing the discarded backpack on the floor, Ryo reached in and pulled out two cigarette boxes. "Hmmm…you're a bit young to be smoking. So young that it is, in fact, illegal."

Bikky squirmed a bit in his seat, but still did not dare answer.

"It's time to end this, Bikky. Time to end the lies and the deceptions. You are going to answer my questions and you will not stop until you have thoroughly explained what the hell you have been doing these past few weeks. Now start talking."

At this point, Ryo's face was directly in front of the boy's. His expression was harsh and cold, drastically different from his usually gentle features. Bikky gulped as he looked into the stern face above him and realized that he wasn't speaking to Ryo, his foster father, but Detective Randy MacLean. He opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out. Ryo could see that Bikky was struggling to answer and decided to give him a little prompting.

"No answer, huh? Then why don't we start with an easier question. Why don't we start with this?" The wooden, weed smelling box from under the bed was firmly set on the table in front of Bikky.

Ryo could see the horror in Bikky's eyes as he realized he was completely screwed now. With a rough shove, he pushed the box toward the boy. "Open it."

Bikky slowly took the box in his trembling hands, his eyes silently pleading for it to disappear. Seeing his hesitation, Ryo shoved it closer. "Open it."

Gulping, the boy reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out a tiny metal key. He carefully placed it within the lock, which released with an audible click. Averting his eyes, Bikky held the box out for his guardian to see.

Taking the box from his foster son's shaking grip, Ryo pulled the lock out of the latch and released the metal catch with agonizing slowness. Ryo pulled the lid back, never once taking his eyes away from Bikky's, and reached a hand inside. The boy looked like he was on the verge of tears as that hand came back out.

"Cards?"

Bikky paled and bowed his head in embarrassment as Ryo examined one card in particular.

"The Dark Magician?" He turned it over. "You-guy-oh?"

"It's Yu-gi-oh!" Bikky growled. "And the Dark Magician is the most kick-ass card in my deck!"

Ryo turned back to the box and shuffled through it. There was no weed, no dirty money, just a large pile of playing cards with pictures of monsters and the word "Yu-gi-oh". Blinking in obvious surprise and confusion, he looked back at the trembling boy on the couch.

"All right," His stern tone was replaced by a softer, more uncertain one. "Open those cigarette packs now."

Groaning, Bikky flipped the packages open and held them upside down, spilling more of the strange cards onto the coffee table. Ryo stared at the dozens of intricately drawn creatures and shapes for a moment before turning back to his foster son. All strategy and police decorum flew out the window as he said exactly what was on his mind.

"What the fuck is going on?"

With a defeated sigh, Bikky flopped back on the couch. "It's a card game that I've been playing with my friends every night. There, are you happy now that you've completely annihilated my existence on Earth and ground it into dust?"

"Yes…no…wait…How have I…I mean…" Ryo took a deep breath as he racked his brain for some sort of logical sentence. "OK, one thing at a time. First; these cards are a game. What kind of game?"

"Only the greatest game ever invented!" Despite his dejected posture, the boy's cerulean eyes lit up. "You use the monster cards to attack your opponent and the one with the strongest monster wins. There are also these spell and trap cards to make your monster stronger and give you an advantage. And my monsters are a lot stronger than my posse's."

Ryo raised one eyebrow. "Your posse? You mean Mac and Tank?"

"How did you…? Never mind. Yeah, Mac and Tank are my friends from school. Those are just their nicknames, though. Their real names are Mackenzie and Travis. But we call each other by nicknames cause they sound a lot cooler."

"So you've been sneaking out every night to play this card game with your friends?" Ryo scratched his head as he sat down on the other end of the couch, trying to let the information sink in. "Then what's with the cigarette packages and this box that smells like weed?"

"Is that what that smell is?" Bikky held up the box and gave a little sniff. "Eeeeew. I guess that's what I get for pulling it out of a dumpster, but it's great for storing my cards. And I found the cigarette packs in the same trash pile. They're the perfect size for holding my active deck and discard pile when I play with my friends."

"So you're not doing drugs?"

Bikky wrinkled his nose in disgust. "No way. Those things killed my dad, so why would I want anything to do with them?"

"And you're not smoking?"

"And turn out like Dee? I don't think so."

"Then what about the money I give you for cab fare? Why don't you use that instead of walking home through the back alleys? And don't deny it. I have eyewitnesses who have seen you walking around late at night. You know how dangerous the streets are at night."

"Oh…" Bikky shrugged guiltily. "I was using it to buy more cards."

Ryo sighed. "OK, but if you're at your friends' houses, then why are you sneaking home so late? Why don't you call me, so I can pick you up?"

Bikky blushed as he ran a hand through his blonde hair. "We get so involved that we completely lose track of time. I don't want you to worry about me, so I try to be really quiet when I come back every night."

Ryo could feel his eye tick in annoyance. "Worry me? Worry me? You're sneaking out at night, receiving 'mysterious' phone calls, walking around the back alleys at night, and lying to my face all over some card game? You have gone far beyond worrying me, mister!"

Bikky pulled a pillow over his head in embarrassment. "I'm sorry," he wailed. "I didn't want anyone to know about it. I really love the game, but a lot of people at school think it's dorky. And Mac and Tank are the biggest geeks. Mac's on the mathletes team and Tank does all of his science reports on dust mites. I have a reputation as a bad-ass that I need to keep up. If the other guys at school knew that I was hanging out with two twerps and playing a card game, they'd tar and feather me."

"Ooookay…So why couldn't you tell me about this?"

"Because if you knew, then Dee would find out and tease me about it every waking minute. I wouldn't put it past him to start up rumors about it at school too."

Ryo had to agree with that. When it came to embarrassing Bikky, he wouldn't put anything past his partner.

"And then there's you," Bikky's voice lowered to a whisper.

Ryo glanced up, his brow etched in concern. "Me? What about me?"

"You've done so much for me. You took me in when no one else wanted me, gave me a home and a family, and looked out for me every step of the way. I'm really grateful for that. You have no idea how grateful I am. I just…" His voice wavered as he tried to hold back the tears forming in his eyes. "I just didn't want you to think that I was a dork. You're so cool, Ryo, and I want you to think that I'm cool too."

Ryo sat there on the couch, staring at the shaking boy in stunned silence. He watched as Bikky pulled his knees to his chest and buried his face in his arms as he failed to keep his sobs at bay.

"I'm sorry," he whimpered. "I'm so sorry, Ryo. I know you're mad at me, but I'm so sorry for disappointing you and acting like a complete shit head."

"Bikky…" Ryo could feel his heart catch in his throat as he shuffled across the couch and pulled the sobbing boy toward him in a half hug. He said nothing for a long time; simply holding the boy to his shoulder with one arm. The apartment was silent, broken only by the tick of the clock and occasional whimpered hiccups from his foster son.

After awhile he finally spoke. "You know, Bikky, I think you're cool too. You're the coolest kid I have ever met, and nothing you do could ever make me think you were a dork. In truth, the real dork here is me."

Bikky peeked up from his arms. "You? No way."

"I mean it," Ryo smiled. "When you think about what I used to do in college, I'm a bigger dork than any nicknamed, card playing, bad ass brother like you could ever be."

A tiny smile graced the boy's face. "Nuh-uh. I don't believe you."

"I'll prove it," The older man chuckled as he pulled himself off the couch and headed to his bedroom. A minute later, he came back carrying an unmarked cardboard box that he dropped to the floor with a loud thud. Curiosity piqued, Bikky lifted the lid to peer at the contents inside.

"What's 'Dungeons and Dragons'?"

"Dungeons and Dragons," Ryo stated proudly. "was the most brilliant and innovative game ever devised by the minds of men." He started pulling out dusty manuals and rule books, folders of papers covered in numbers, several tubes of multi-sided dice, binders full of monster pictures, and a shoebox full of tiny pewter figurines. "This wasn't like your new-fangled card games. This was a true RPG. Back in college, my friends and I would sit around for hours rolling dice to battle monsters and creating new heroic characters. I'm surprised I kept my grades up considering how much study time I wasted by analyzing my character sheets."

"Really?" Bikky smiled as he paged through a folder of numbered papers. "So what was your character?"

A blush crossed Ryo's face. "Oh…I was an elf."

"Did you do all kinds of cool stuff?"

"Actually, my character just sort of shot random arrows and received advice from squirrels," Ryo paused as he saw a look of light-hearted disgust on Bikky's face. "Hey, I said I played, but I didn't say I was any good at it."

The boy laughed. "Wow. I thought that Dee turned you gay, but it looks like you were a pansy long before you met him."

Ryo fixed him with a hard stare, his cheeks pink with embarrassment. "We're having a bonding moment, Bikky. Don't mess it up."

"Sorry," The boy replied sheepishly. "These binders are really cool though. They really keep everything in order."

"Tell you what," Ryo smiled as he watched his foster son page through his collection. "I'm off on Saturday. Why don't the two of us go down to the hobby shop on 15th street and pick up some binders to organize your cards. It'll be a lot more effective than cigarette packs and a weed boxes."

"Can I get some more cards too?" Bikky grinned hopefully.

"No," Ryo stated simply, watching Bikky's face fall. "Don't forget that you're still in big trouble, young man, and that means no more sneaking around at night. We'll discuss how to organize a proper gaming session with your friends in two weeks, when you're no longer grounded."

"Damn. I was hoping you'd forgotten about that. But despite that, I still think you're cool, Ryo."

"And I think you're cool too, Bikky. You're right about keeping Dee out of the loop, too. He'd be merciless to both of us if he found out about this. So, if you promise not to tell him about my Dungeons and Dragons collection, I promise not to tell him about your You-guy-oh cards."

"Yu-gi-oh. And it's a deal."

The late hour finally caught up with both of them as they admired each others' collections. As they both stood to go to bed, Ryo turned back to his foster son.

"I'm glad we finally talked, Bikky. I'm so relieved to know that you haven't been smoking, or doing drugs, or joining gangs, or looking at adult magazines."

"Well, Tank did show us that one issue of 'Playboy' two nights ago…"

"WHAT?"

THE END

A/N: I hope everyone enjoyed my story. I was really surprised at how few stories there are about Ryo and Bikky's relationship, and I really wanted to explore it. Forgive me if any of my information on Yu-gi-oh or Dungeons and Dragons is horribly inaccurate. I've never played either game, so my knowledge comes from a few randomly watched Yu-gi-oh episodes and rooting through my brother's old D&D collection.

Reviews are always welcome, but flames will be mocked and then forgotten. A huge thanks goes out to my beta and buddy LadyDragonphire, without who I never would have gotten this done.


End file.
